At Togethera (the private social network for your family), we’re fanatical about making photo sharing as fast as possible. Here’s how we compare to WhatsApp and Facebook:
(All demos recorded on the same Wi-Fi connection)
So how are we so much faster than WhatsApp and Facebook?
We tested sharing 10 photos, and recorded the time between pressing ‘Post/Send’ and the entire post successfully uploading. On Togethera it took 0.6 secs, vs 7.8 secs on WhatsApp and 23.1 secs on Facebook. How?
- We start uploading photos as soon as you tap them in the gallery (inspired by Instagram who upload as soon as you’ve chosen your filter).
- We use parallel concurrent upload queues so we’re uploading multiple photos at once (rather than waiting for photo 1 to upload before starting photo 2).
- For the initial upload, we use a medium resolution photo (around the same as WhatsApp).
- This means that by the time you press ‘Post’, all your photos have usually uploaded already, and we just need to send the request to put them all into a post to your group(s). It’s basically instant.
What about full-resolution photos?
- Next time you’re on Wi-Fi after you’ve posted, which may be immediately, we start uploading the original uncompressed photos in the background (the final downloadable photo from WhatsApp is compressed to 35% of the original file size, Facebook is 20% of the original).
- The full-res photos mean you can order photo prints (launching very soon!) and auto-backup all your originals to Dropbox.
How else do we differ?
Lots of ways. But from a photo upload perspective:
- Togethera Premium users can upload up to 100 photos per post (WhatsApp limits you to 10, Facebook limits you to 40 on mobile).
- Share to multiple groups: You can share 100 of this weekend’s photos with your family, your partner’s family and your close friends in 3 separate groups, all at once.
How do you get it?
You can download Togethera for iOS or Togethera for Android, or visit Togethera.com.